Protective pad for playpens or cribs



June 17, 1952 E. F. MALM 2,600,556

PROTECTIVE PAD FOR PLAYPENS OR CRIBS Filed July 3, 1950 INVENTOR f/az'ne lr" Ma lm BY QM m-B1% ATTORNEY Patented June 17, 1952 PROTECTIVE PAD FOR IIPLAYPENS CRIBS Elaine F. Malm, St. Paul, Minn. j Application July 3, 1950, Serial No. 171,809 v My invention relates to an improvement in protective pad and deals particularly with a type of pad suitable for protecting the rail of a play pen or crib.

Babies are usually confined Within cribs or play pens during a considerable portion of the time. These cribs and play pens usually include slatted walls having encircling rails at their upper ends. When such babies are first able to stand up by themselves, they usually support themselves by grasping the railing or the slotted walls to hold themselves upright. Occasionally they fall against the rails and are injured thereby. Thus it has been found important to provide a means of padding these rails so that such injury can not occur.

An object of the present invention resides in the provision of a padding particularly adapted for use on rails and. more particularly on rails encircling play pens, cribs and the like. This padding is mainly designed to protect the head of an infant in the event the infant should fall against the rail.

A feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a rail pad which is sanitary and which may be removed and washed or cleaned from time to time. As the device is particularly designed for use on cribs or play pens it is important that the device be easily cleaned. My pad is so designed that it may :be detached in an extremely short period of time and may be washed or dry cleaned, depending upon the particular type of material used in its formation.

A feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a pad including a resilient pad body enclosed within an outer sheathing of fabric. The fabric covering is designed to encircle the rail of the crib or bed and to be held in this position by snaps or other detachable fasteners. These snaps or fasteners are spaced to extend between the slats of the crib or play pen so as to hold the padding bent into U-shaped form over the upper surface of the rail.

A further feature of the present invention lies in the provision of a padding which is attractive to the eye and which acts as a decoration as well as a protection for the infant. In preferred form my pad includes a rufile extending along the outer surface thereof which lends a pleasing appearance to the crib or play pen and serves as a decoration therefor.

These and other objects and novel features of my invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawings forming a part of my specification:

7 Claims. -93) by the concealed stitching 24.

Figure 1 is a perspective view. of a play pen showing my protective pads supported thereupon.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a section of my pad showing the construction thereof.

The pads A are designed for attachment to a crib or to a play pen such as that illustrated in general by the letter B. Such devices usually include a base or bottom frame l0 having con-j nected thereto a series of upwardly extending slats II. The frame I0 is shown as a solid rectangular element to provide a front for the pen. In many forms of construction the frame I!) merely comprises a rectangularly arranged series of frame strips so that the pen may be folded up and stored when not in use.

The spaced slats H support rectangular arranged rails 12 which provide the upper frame work connecting the various slats and forming the rectangular enclosure. The manner in which the rails l2 are connected is not important in the present invention, it being obvious that each side may be provided with a separate rail hingedly connected to the other rails or the rails may be permanently connected at the corners. When the pads A are used in conjunction with a crib, such cribs are often provided with vertically slidable side portions which include spaced vertical slats connected at their upper ends with a rail similar to the rails l2. As all of this structure is well known in the art, there is believed no need for a detailed description.

The pad which I employ includes an inner padding strip i3 which is formed of foam rubber or other suitable material. This strip I3 is merely a rectangular elongated strip of suitable resilient material of necessary thickness to properly cushion the rails I2. The pad I3 is connected along its upper surface by a covering I4 and is enclosed along its undersurface by a lining l5. The covering l4 and lining l5 are preferably substantially wider than the strip I3.

In the form of construction illustrated the cover l4 and linin [5 are connected at [6 by a row of stitching. This stitching l6 connects the members I 4 and I5 at points spaced from the marginal edges thereof. The marginal edges l1 and I9 of the covering l4 and liner [5 are folded inwardly and are connected by the concealed stitches 20.

The covering and liner I4 and I5 are also connected by a row of stitching 2| spaced from the other edges of these members. The marginal edges 22 and 23 of the covering and liner respectively are folded inwardly and are connected The space between the row of stitches l and the adjacent edges of the members l4 and [5 form a flap 25 useful in holding the pad in proper formation. The area between the stitches 2i and the adjacent edges of the members forms a second opposite flap 26 which also provides a means of holding the pad in place.

A series of snap fasteners are provided along the length of' each pad A. These snapfasteners are shown as having male portions 2'! and oooperable female portions 29 which snap together under spring tension. The width of the pad and the spacing of the snap fastener'portions'i 2'! and 29 is such that when the snap fasteners are engaged the resilient pad I3 is held in in-i. The...

verted U-shaped form over therails I2.

snap fasteners are preferably spaced to engagebetween the spaced slats. that the pad be adaptable for various constructions, the snap fasteners may be positioned at rather shortintervals so as to provide the necesmovement along the rail. These ties may be eliminated if the pad is produced in elements of considerable length and cut to the proper length to fit each individual installation. However, the use of such ties 33 is'preierred, particularly where thepads are made for crib' or play pen of a particular, style.

In "order to improve the appearance of the However, in order,

padding and to concealthe' fasteners fastening thepads'together, I provide a ruiile 3! connected to the' pad" along the line of stitching 2!., This rufile ftsi is preferably provided with a folded edg'et32 connected to the pad by the stitching 2 I. Also in preferred form the free edge 33 of the rufiiet'l is folded in a manner to conceal'the edgea'nd stitched at t to form a finished appearance'to the rufiie.

In applying thepad A 'to the crib or bed, it is only necessary to 'extendthe pad over therail so that approximately the lateral center of the pad1'l3'is directly above the rail. The flaps 25 and26 are next folded downwardly on opposite sidesfojf the rail and thejsnap fasteners 21 and 29 fastened so as to hold the pad in rail 'en-. circling position. During this action the pad 13 is bent'into' inverted U-shaped form to enclose the upper edge and inner and outer sidesof the rail'silZ.

I have found that mypads A have been .ex-- tremely effectivein preventing injury to chil-- drenandmaybe made at a suiiiciently low price to make them commercially practical. By leav-w ing thefends of thecoverings open, or by leaving at least one end of the covering disconnected,

the pad [3 may be withdrawn and the remainder of the .padclingmay be washed or dry cleaned.

The task of attaching or detaching the padis extremely simple and can be completed in an extremely short period of time.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I

have. described the principles of construction and operation of my protective pad construction for play pens or cribs, and whileI have endeavored 4 to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that obvious changes may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A paddin structure for use in conjunction with'an'elongated rail having spaced-slats connected thereto, thestructure comprising "an inverted U-shaped body of soft resilient material extending over the sides and top of the rail and anenclosing covering enclosing the body and connected'together between the spaced slats, said covering including a flap on either side of said body. I

2. A protective pad including an elongated strip'of' soft resilient material, a tubular covering-: forlsaid strip including a covering member having a liner of fabric, a row of stitching connecting said coverin and liner together oneach of the opposite sides-of said pad, each of said. rows of stitching being spaced from the adjacent edges of the liner, said fasteners including op posed cooperable elements.

3. Thefstructure described in claim 2 and in which the marginal edges of theliner and ccvermg member are connected together.

42. The structure. described in claim 2 and in cluding a ruliie connected to said covering memher at a pointispacedfrom one of the marginal edges thereof, said rufie extending beyond the adjacent marginal edge of the covering member.

5. A for protecting a rail, the pad includ ing an elongated body of flexible resilient material, a tubular enclosure for said body, including a liner and. a covering member secured to gether at the marginal edges thereof, said liner and covering memberbeing substantially wider than said body, means connecting said liner and covering member together along a line parallel to, and spaced from, the adjacent edges of the liner and covering member, and ccoperable snap enclosing covering enclosing thebody, and eeoperable fastener elements associated with said covering adjacent opposed edges of said body.

said fastener elements when fastened extending between adjacent slats to detachably maintain said body in said U-shaped relation.

ELAILIE F. WALD-11:.

REFEREN GE S CIT ED The following references are of record in the file of this patents,

UNITED STATES PATENTS '1 Number V. Name 1 Date 799,390 Kuykendall Sept. 12, 1905 -2,235,293. Mellon Mar. 18, v19 11- 2,355,525 Giesler Aug. 8, 1944"" 

